If you don’t think you are going to be able to get your tax stuff together by April 15 (either to get to your preparer or to prepare yourself), don’t lose heart! You can still get an extension to file your taxes that gives you an additional six months until October 15 to get things organized. That should give you plenty of time to file One important point to remember. An extension to file is not an extension to pay the taxes, so if you think you will owe taxes, remember that you will be penalized 1/2 percent a month (or part of a month) in late payment penalties plus interest until you pay what you owe. That is bad, but if you don’t file an extension, you also face late filing penalties of 5% a month (maximum 25%) plus interest as well as the late payment penalties. So when you file that extension, estimate what you will owe and pay it with the extension form 4868 – make sure it is mailed (and postmarked) by April 15 or things could get expensive! For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 [...]
Tax Musings of a Burbank CPA: Making Estimated Tax Payments
If you don’t have taxes withheld on your income (you are self employed or you have a pension where it is hard to have withholding taken out, for instance) you may need to make estimated tax payments to the Federal and State tax agencies to avoid paying an underpayment penalty on late payments (you are required to pay in last year’s tax or 90% of your current years taxes in quarterly installments until January 15 of the following year.) See this IRS tip for more details: http://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USIRS/bulletins/af28cc?reqfrom=share If you owe under $1000 to the IRS you don’t need to make estimates. It is a good idea to check it out so next year you will not get hit with this penalty. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa
Financial CPA Musings: Americans only take half of their paid vacation
This article in MarketWatch from the Wall Street Journal by Quentin Fottrell goes into many reasons why we here in the U.S. do not take all the paid vacation we are entitled to. Click the link below: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americans-only-take-half-of-their-paid-vacation-2014-04-03 Something the article doesn’t discuss but (after talking to a lot of my clients) may also be an issue – a lot of employers allow their employees to take unused vacation in cash at the end of the year. With people still struggling to make ends meet, I think a lot of people would take the money and give up the time off. No proof, but just a thought. For financial, accounting and tax musings, You can count on us to count for you! Email: bstonercpa@sbcglobal.net Phone: 818-317-6035 Website: www.briantstonercpa.com Android and the IPhone: Has been Featured On https://twitter.com/bstonercpa